(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)
Faber-Castell is a brand that I'm overly familiar with, but one that I don't give enough attention. I have several of their fountain pens, and I enjoy using them all. For whatever reason, they don't make it into my rotation often enough, and it's not because they're unworthy or sub-par in any way. The newest Faber-Castell to make it into my collection, the Hexo, has reminded me of what great pens this company make and why I should consider them more often.
The Faber-Castell Hexo is a wide-bodied fountain pen that features a hexagonal body shape. The edges of the hexagon are soft and rounded off, but they still have plenty of definition to feel good in your hand and prevent the pen from rolling around on your desk or table. The pen has a slight taper that starts at the top of the cap and goes to the bottom of the pen. This makes for a pleasing shape, but also makes it possible for the cap to post on the back of the pen.
For those of us that prefer things to be in order or alignment with everything else, this pen has a built-in mechanical system that ensure the edges of the hexagons are always aligned. My inner OCD-self rejoices when this happens. For example, I really don't like it when the edges of my Caran d'Ache 849 fountain pen don't line up. I twist the cap a bit to line them up manually, but it's fiddly. This isn't necessary with the Hexo, as the inner cap always aligns to the hexagonal edges of the pen. It's a beautiful little tough of detail that I really appreciate. And, due to the unique mechanism for keeping everything lined up, this means the cap is also a click-on as opposed to a screw on lid, making this pen very easy to cap and uncap securely.
The clip on this particular pen isn't my favorite. It's plenty strong to stay in place once it's clipped onto something, but the issue is getting it clipped in the first place. Since the clip is so strong and the raised lip at the bottom of the clip is very shallow, it's really easy to get stuck on the fabric that you're trying to clip it to. In most cases, this means you're just pushing down the opening of the pocket or sleeve instead of the clip easily sliding over the edge of the pocket or sleeve fabric. With a little attention to how you angle the pen into the pocket, you can successfully clip the pen onto things, but it does take a little more attention than I'd like. Again, the nice thing is that the pen doesn't budge once it's clipped in.
The grip section of this pen is uniform all around and features a nice shape for gripping the pen while writing. It's not as opinionated as a Lamy Safari, but it's still really comfortable and provides a nice shape that keeps your fingers from sliding up on the nib while writing. It's also fairly transparent and gives you a clear view of how much ink is flowing through the feed. When you can start to see the dry feed, it means your ink is almost gone.
Speaking of ink, this pen also accepts international cartridges and cartridge converters. I'm using a generic international converter so that I can use the ink I prefer, but the pen does come with a single black short international cartridge. Unfortunately, the converter is not included with this pen. At $42, I feel like a converter would be a nice thing to include with the pen without impacting the bottom line.
Finally, the nib. The steel nib on this pen is small and black, matching the rest of the pen perfectly. The EF nib on my copy of this pen is smooth and crisp. I didn't need to make any modifications to the nib out of the box, which makes me really happy. I've really enjoyed the firmness of the nib and the crisp lines it makes on the paper. But, even though it's plenty firm, it still writes smoothly without any scratching or dragging. The Diamine ink I'm using is average in terms of lubrication, but it's also not a super wet ink. Overall, I've been really happy and impressed with the writing performance of this little nib.
The Faber-Castell Hexo took me a bit by surprise. I wasn't expecting something so enjoyable, but that's entirely my fault for looking past this brand and what they have to offer. At a price that lines up with the Lamy Al-Star and Kaweco Sport, it provides great performance with a unique form factor that many people will enjoy over the standards that Lamy, Kaweco, and Pilot currently offer. And, if all black isn't your thing, you can also choose from Silver and Rose.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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